BALAKOT, Oct 10: A young boy and girl were pulled out alive from the rubble in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, two days after a massive earthquake brought their school crashing down, an AFP photographer said.

Volunteers and relatives of hundreds of parents at the Shaheen Public School in the devastated town of Balakot helped to get the two children out of the debris, the AFP photographer said from the scene.

People recited verses from the Holy Quran as the two were dug out from the rubble and cried Allahu-Akbar, witnesses said.

The six-year-old boy, who had swelling on his face, was found in the remains of the school’s first floor gallery.

The girl, who is aged four, had some injuries on her face, witnesses said.

Residents have said up to 400 boys and girls were trapped in the school when it was toppled.

People gathered at the site to help in the rescue effort said they had heard the voices

of a few girls who were still trapped under the debris. “We hope to recover them and others alive,” a volunteer said.

No rescue workers apart from a few from a private charity have reached the town.

In Balakot, two schools and a madrasseh were toppled, with nearly 1,000 students thought to be buried in total.

Meanwhile in Islamabad, a woman and two children were pulled out alive by rescuers from the Margalla Towers’ debris on Monday, 60 hours after the building had collapsed.—Agencies